Christmas Parade

It was really nice to be back home for the Christmas Parade. Peyton and I took the kids down together last year, but this year, he had to work. It's mom's weekend with the kids, so we had Jordan, Jace, Michael, Destiny, Samantha, and Sabrina. Papa got off of work just in time to come with us. The kids really enjoyed running after the candy. You can see that Sabrina came out of her shell and wasn't afraid to run out into the street for candy. It was pretty cold and by the end of the parade, Sam was ready to go back to Mema's house. Papa was being very silly (wearing a pink hat) and he picked Samantha up and held her for the last half hour or so. I thought the girls would go nuts over the Grinch. They were a little weary of him, but he came right over and let them give him high fives. As he was walking away, I said: "Wow...girls. You just met the Grinch." Sabrina, with all of her three year old wisdom, responded: "No, Mommy. He's just a man in a costume." You could see Samantha's face drop. Samantha loves to believe in superhero's and a whole fantasy world. Sabrina is a realist. At 3 years old, this kid is as cynical as they come. I would love for them to both grow up to be writers. Samantha could write about her wildest dreams and fantasies and Sabrina can write self help books or medical journals (the truth and nothing but the truth). I think Michael enjoyed parts of the parade. There were some vintage cars and four wheelers. Destiny and Jordan stood just down from us. They needed to be in an area where they didn't have to fight with the little ones for candy. And they wanted to be the big girls who didn't need their hands held. Mema took Destiny and Jordan to have their nails painted and designed with Christmas trees, and we all went to lunch together.

Christmas Tree 2008

We didn't make a big deal out of decorating our tree this year. I didn't spend time "fluffing" out the branches. In fact, Peyton threw it up and the girls started going through the ornaments on their own before I was ready to decorate. No egg nog or Christmas cookies this year. We didn't even put on the Christmas music. In the end, it looked a little sad. It was fully decorated, but the fullness was missing. I knew my mom was coming to stay with the kids on Monday. She has been coming up at least once a week. It gives her a chance to be with the kids and gives Mema Shirley a chance to rest. I told Peyton that there was no way my mom was going to leave our tree alone. I called home in the early afternoon to see how the kids were doing and she told me they were fine. She was busy "fluffing" the tree. "How could you put up your tree and not even fluff it?" I think I'll do this every year. Just invite Mom over to do the part I don't like to do. The tree is beautiful now. She worked around the oranments because she knew the kids had put them all in place. Peyton and I have already bought and wrapped most of our kids gifts. In some respects we are ahead of the game this year. I took December 15th off so I could finish up my shopping. I haven't done any shopping for anyone other than my kids. I really am still at ground zero with Michael too.

...after Thanksgiving Party

Pictures at our the after party. Madison brought real Mardi Gras beads for the girls. They are still playing with them this morning. Thanks, Trisha and Maddie.

Thanksgiving Pictures

The kids had so much fun playing at Mema Shirley's house on Thanksgiving Day. I especially like this picture of Blake and Codie. He towers over his mom now and is no longer one of the kids. It's a little bit strange to see him so grown up. Trisha, Richard, Austin and Madison were in town from LaFayette, La. They drove a long way to come and celebrate with us. Had they not shown up, I don't think we would have had a Thanksgiving at all. Mema Shirley decided to throw the party only because Trisha was coming to town and wanted to spend some time with her family. In the end, we did not do Thanksgiving with the Tingle's this year. Jennifer was in the hospital for six days, getting out only the day before Thanksgiving. She really needed to rest. Mary and Rabun both had terrible colds. It was just too much to throw it together when no one was feeling especially chipper. The good news is that everyone is doing better this week. We'll just put more effort into Christmas in a couple of weeks. The bad news is that we always take our Tingle family Christmas card picture on Thanksgiving day at the Tingle Manor. Since we didn't go there this year, I completely forgot to take one. So...I am looking through the pictures that we have for a family picture for this year's card. Our Christmas newsletter usually goes out in the mail by December 1st. I haven't even written this year's letter yet. I am so behind.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2008

I'll post Thanksgiving pictures over the weekend, complete with stories of today's events. I just had to get this one posted before I forgot about it. Jordan and Jace came home with us tonight from Mema Shirley's house. Peyton told Sabrina this was her first sleepover. She said, "No, Daddy. It's my first date." Peyton asked her what a date was. Sabrina said, "It's when you go over to somebody else's house and stay there."

As we tucked the three little bugs into bed tonight, we told Jace that if he woke up tonight, he could come into our room and sleep with us, or he could go into Destiny's room to sleep with Jordan. Not ten minutes after they settled into bed with a movie, Samantha came into our room. "I want to sleep in your bed, Mommy." I told her no and explained that she needed to sleep in her own bed. "But you said, me and Jace and Sabrina could come in here to sleep if we wanted to." Peyton explained that Jace might be a little afraid without his mommy and daddy here, but that we were right her and she needed to sleep in her own bed. I told her she had the most comfortable bed in the world. She said, "I don't like it. It has polka dots on it." Her Daddy had to carry her back to bed.

Pumpkin Roulade with Ginger Buttercream

I was watching Ina Garten make a pumpkin roulade on The Food Network and I got really excited that Thanksgiving is coming up. I decided that this would be my special Thanksgiving item this year. Each year I pick a new dish to try. I never cook one ahead of time, but I was afraid I might not do this one correctly, so I did a practice run this afternoon. I let Sabrina and Destiny help me. Samantha was out raking leaves with her Daddy and Michael was watching a football game. I'll make this for the Tingle's house. I'm doing a Coca Cola Ham, Dressing, and Mac and Cheese for Mema's house. We haven't done Thanksgiving with my family since 2004, so this will be a treat.

Eric's Birthday

We celebrated Eric's birthday at Mema Shirley's house. I can't believe how many children we have when we get them all in one room. Half of the kids were missing and we still had a full house. The older kids jumped on the trampoline while the younger kids played in the garage and ate loads of candy. I love this picture of Sabrina and Skylar. Beanie really reminds me of her sometimes. She has never really been a huge fan of hats, but she wears her pink princess hat everywhere.

Aquarium

We took the kids to the Georgia Aquarium on November 2. It's been so long, and I'm just now posting the pictures. Life has been so busy lately. Samantha and Sabrina liked the baluga whales the best. Destiny really enjoyed the animals she could pet. I found myself most interested in the manta ray. The Aquarium is a great experience. I don't think it's something that we would be interested in doing over and over the way we do the zoo. We really enjoyed the 3D movie. It was interactive and the water splashing on us did not bother Sabrina, but when they started the air jets blowing under her seat, she was very upset. I think she was startled and scared and then too embarrassed that it scared her to be anything but mad. Sabrina is stubborn. I have never met a child with more pride at such a young age.

****I still think my favorite visit with the animals will always be the polar bear at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. I could have watched him forever.

Bryson James Tingle

....Another Tingle is born. Bryson is so cute. Owen and Amber are thrilled to be parents again. Riley and Kenna are very happy to be big sisters. We can't wait to see the kids when they come home for Christmas. They live in Cary, North Carolina.

Happy Halloween 2008

Halloween was a lot of fun for us this year. Samantha dressed up as Batman. Sabrina was Superman, and Destiny was Pebbles. Since we don't live in a neighborhood, we always visit one down the road. This was our third year and this is a pretty small neighborhood. I was so shocked when we walked up to the first house. Jack Lowe answered the door and immediately said. "You guys are from the first house on Callaway, right? We were hoping you would come by this year. Pat made special bags for all four of the kids." We spent a few minutes speaking to Pat and Jack. I am hopeful that they will visit us on Easter this year. What wonderful neighbors we have. Well...actually, we are distant neighbors at best. They live about a mile away. You'll see a picture of all of the kids posing with Pat and Jack on Halloween night this year. I am going to make it a point to take one every year. The next house we visited is where Kathy lives. I can't remember Kathy's last name right now and I don't think I ever heard her husband's name. Kathy invites the kids inside each year to tour her home. She decorates EVERY room and loves for the kids to play with all of her Halloween goodies. Keep in mind, we ONLY see Kathy once a year...on Halloween night. We are hoping to change this. She reminded me when we left that she is always available to keep the kids anytime we need her too. She has lots of time on her hands and she loves kids. The below pictures are in Kathy's living room....standing with the dancing ghosts. We had a halloween pumpkin contest at work. It was really great. I didn't really want to participate this year. In fact, someone else signed me up for it while I was in New York a couple of weeks ago. As always, I got into it pretty quickly. There were 11 pumpkins in the contest. Below are pictures of the top three. My group's pumpkin won FIRST PLACE. He looked really cool in the dark with his candle lit. There's a picture here of him without his clothes, I carved him all by myself. No help from my ultra talented husband. We don't have to tell him that I used a template I downloaded off of the internet to trace the design. He's the lifesize DHL delivery man who is delivering a package to a coffin in a cemetary. His package has a sign that reads: DHL: We deliver anywhere. Even to the Dead

At the end of the night we dropped by to see Grandmother and Granddaddy Tingle. We spent a little bit of time hanging out with them. It was nice to have Halloween on a Friday night. No need to rush home to bed. Grandmother gave us Pumpkin Ice Cream and freshly baked Apple Cake. You can imagine the sugar rush we went through.